When Your Lips Are So Close
by Lynyrd Lionheart
Summary: They return home to Storybrooke. Emma decides to listen to Charming and finally take advantage of one of those "little moments" as a new curse looms. Semi-AU.


**AN: I'm on a roll for stories this weekend. This is a CS one shot that takes place in the same semi-AU as my other Once one shots (Cleaning this Gun, Mother's Intuition, Daddy's Girl – in that order). It makes mention of the Emma/Charming conversation from Daddy's Girl, but you can probably follow along just fine without having read any of those. This takes place during **_**New Neverland**_**, and has some predictions for the next episode, based on the promo. Mostly it's just CS fun, though.**

**When Your Lips Are So Close**

Neal is asking her on a date.

It's awkward, because Emma can tell he's sincere. He _really_ does care for her, and she still cares for him, too. Only she's not in love with him. She hasn't been for a while, because ten years and growing up may mean you have cement walls, but it also grants you a lot of hindsight. Her and Neal? They were young and foolish, and probably would have never worked. Not in the long run.

So, it's awkward. Because Neal is asking her on a date, and Emma can see Hook watching the interaction over his shoulder and she can't help but wish the two men were switched.

Then again, would the pirate captain even know what a date is?

Emma had told David that she saw a future with Hook, and she hadn't been lying. But David and her were incredibly alike, and it was easy to tell him about what she saw in her future (surprisingly so). Telling Hook? That was a whole 'nother issue.

Emma realized that Neal had still been talking, and so she pulls her mind away from thoughts of pirates and the future and tries to pay attention to what he is saying.

"Look, it's simple. I'll be here around lunch tomorrow. If you feel hungry around that time, feel free to join me."

Emma wishes she could smile and say yes, that she would be there, because Neal is turning on all his charm for this. He has a lot of it, and if only this were ten years ago Emma would be blushing and jumping all over this opportunity.

But it's not ten years ago, and Neal has charm, but it's not as potent as Hook's. It's not fair, to compare the two men, but Emma finds it happening anyway. And Neal comes up short, because despite his attempts to get it right _now_, nothing will change the fact that Emma sat alone and pregnant in that jail, that she was unable to even _look_ at her newborn, because Neal had Daddy issues the size of the Atlantic and he was too afraid to deal with them.

So, Emma smiles at Neal, knowing that she won't be conveniently hungry at noon the next day, and she walks by Hook, wishing he would make some innuendo, or do anything other than stare broodily into the bottom of his beer mug, and makes her way to Henry. Henry, who is the love of her life and really all she should be thinking about, because he's been through an ordeal. And then there's David, who hasn't died yet, which is good, but who is also still waiting on that cure from Gold. Emma's family life is up in the air right now, and she shouldn't be thinking about pirates.

That doesn't stop her from stealing another look at him, though, as Henry glances through his book of fairytales.

DRABBLE

Hook and Tinker Belle.

Considering that Emma has just kind of left the pirate hanging without a word, she supposed that she had no right to be angry.

But dammit, she _is_. The pirate is _hers_. It took three hundred years and meeting Emma Swan for him to finally consider moving on from Milah, so the fairy doesn't get him. Not when Emma finally decided that she wanted him, and that they could be great together.

She should probably tell him that. The last they saw of each other, Neal was asking her out and she was avoiding Hook, because now the fun was supposed to begin and Emma still didn't know how to tell Hook that there wasn't actually a competition.

_Hey sailor, wanna rock my world?_

He'd probably go for it, but she doesn't think that it's quite appropriate.

But that word, that _perhaps_, is pricking her. It shouldn't be. I mean, the Mother Superior was just murdered by Pan's shadow on the steps of the convent, which means the devil himself is still in play… but she wants to shake the pirate and tell him to keep his hands off pretty blonde fairies because he belongs to her, and she plans on keeping him.

She thinks of what David said, about moments, and she wonders if this was one of the ones she missed. Maybe she _should_ have grabbed Hook, asked him to rock her world, and damn the consequences. Because things weren't exactly going their way, and now she was off to face down a _bloody demon_, as the pirate would say, and all she'll have of him if this should turn south is one kiss and a handful of meaningful looks that she never got to explore.

Days like these? She really hates being the saviour.

So, they make their way to the town line – her, her parents, Gold and Belle, because it might as well be a family affair – and they release Pan from Pandora's box.

Only Pan is Henry, and isn't that a one-two punch to the gut? She'd known Henry was off, but that it wasn't actually _him_? Hell, even she hadn't called _that _one.

So, it's drama as usual, and Regina feels guilty because she didn't know what was going on, because she willfully ignored it. Emma would feel bad, except Regina apparently left The Curse – yeah, not just any curse, but the one that deserves capital letters – lying around, and now Pan has it and they're all screwed.

And Emma still hasn't been able to tell Hook that she chose him. That he can climb back out of the rum bottle he's been calling home, because Emma prefers her dates to be sober, and that they can make a go of this thing that's brewing between them. And now? Now it's probably too late.

But life is about moments. And she won't let this curse hit without taking hers.

"You should be with your family," is what he says when she joins him on bench at the docks.

"Probably," Emma agrees. "Yet here I am."

She had been with her family. In fact, they weren't that far away, just at Leroy's boat a little further down the dock with Regina, Tink and the rest of the dwarves. Emma had made her escape as quickly as possible when Gold, Belle and Neal had arrived, needing to see her pirate one last time before whatever happened… happened.

"Here you are," Hook agrees. "Guess you won't get that date with Neal. Whatever a date is."

"It's courtship, and you heard that, did you? Eavesdropper."

"Pirate."

"That's no excuse." Emma leans forward, resting her arms on her knees. "I was gonna stand him up. You know, not show."

"Oh?" Hook tries to play it cool, but there's a jerkiness to his movements that belies the attitude. He _really_ wants to hear more. When Emma doesn't expound, because she has some pride, and it demands that he give a little too, he mutters a curse and looks at her. "Why?"

"I had this plan, in my head. We'd get Henry home and settled. Things would calm down, and then you and I would hash things out… maybe have some of that _fun_ you promised. Only nothing worked like that, and now the town is going to be cursed. Again. So I'll work with what I have and compromise a bit, because I've been letting all these little moments pass me by. I don't want this one to pass by, Killian."

It's the first time she's used his real name, and she can see the deep inhale he takes when he hears it. His eyes flicker shut, as if he's savouring the syllables in her voice, and when they open again they're like blue fire burning into hers.

"We wouldn't want a moment to pass you by," he agrees in that accented voice that always sends just the right kind of shivers down Emma's spine. He moves toward her, and she meets him halfway, and this time when they kiss it's by mutual decision, not because she grabbed him in a decision to maul him.

Not that he had complained, of course.

He tastes just as good as she remembers – like rum and spice and _Killian_, and she thinks that she could become addicted to that taste, if fate would just let her. She runs both her hands up into his hair. It's incredibly soft, and just long enough so she can get a good grip on, so she can tug and angle his head in just the right position. He moans into her mouth at the sensation, and nips her bottom lip in response to her tug.

Emma had been thinking about moments, about what David had said. But it's not until now, on this bench, straddling a pirate (and Emma can't be positive how she got into _that_ position, but she's enjoying it), that Emma realizes exactly what he was talking about.

Because this? Kissing Killian again? It's worth forgetting about the disaster zone that is her life. It's worth a thousand curses, just to be to feel his hand in her hair, and the cold metal of his hook at the small of her back.

The moment is interrupted, however, by Leroy shouting and the sound of feet pounding on the dock.

"It's here! It's here!" he shouts, and he's followed by everyone else. "The curse is coming. From all sides."

It's almost humorous, how the panicked looks on everyone's faces can go from worry over the impending curse to awkward when they take in Emma's position, and who exactly it is she's sitting on. Emma thinks she should be feeling awkward as well, but her life has been such a gong show for the past year that she can't muster up the emotion. Not when she deserves this brief moment of happiness with her pirate before all hell breaks loose again.

"Well, thank-you, Sir Grumpy," Hook says after David gives an awkward cough and makes an obvious show of not looking at them. "For that… exuberant announcement. Well, I suppose we shall just… how exactly does one prepare for the immediate onset of a curse?"

"I dunno," Emma responds, removing herself from his lap and giving him a cheeky grin. "I was an infant for the last one. We probably should have gotten drunk."

"It's never too late," Hook says, and offers her his ever handy flask. Emma has to roll her eyes, but she accepts it and toasts him, and tries not to show the world how terrified she is. Because this is it; this is when she loses it all again – parents, son, and pirate.

Hook reads her, as he always does, and his good hand reaches out to grasp hers, and Emma holds on like it's a lifeline.

"We'll find each other," David says, when he sees her white knuckle grip on Hook's hand. "We always do."

"So I've heard," Emma agrees with a weak smile for Henry, who has come to tuck himself into her side, his hand in Regina's.

The group stands there, watching as the fog rolls into town, and none of them know what to expect. Emma looks at Hook again, feeling tears in her eyes, and the look he gives back screams volumes.

This isn't the end, they say. This is just the beginning. Curses don't bring all things to the end, and Killian Jones is a man who fights for what he wants. He won't let her go, not easily, and not without a battle.

The fog comes ever closer, and just as it begins to engulf the group, Hook leans down for one more kiss.

Then the curse hits.

**AN: And there it is. This is what I do when I should be studying for finals. I write fic. It's a great distraction. Please let me know what you think. Also, I just posted a new CS fic called "Recover," in which there is Lieutenant Duckling (young Killian/young Emma). It's a 3 parter, and you should all check it out.**

**Title for the story comes from the Gord Bamford song of the same name. It's a great song.**


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